From Skeptic to Savvy: Social Media in Business

In this episode, Tamekia and Patrick discuss the crucial role social media plays in modern business. They emphasize that social media is here to stay, and businesses need to decide how to engage with it. Ignoring social media could result in missing out on a massive audience, which is vital for growth and success.

The advice given is to start by selecting a social media platform that feels right for your business. They suggest focusing on one platform initially to build and maintain a consistent presence. It's also recommended to keep personal and business accounts separate, especially on platforms like Facebook, to ensure a professional image.

The key takeaway is to take action and start posting content without waiting for everything to be perfect. The discussion wraps up with a thank you to listeners, an encouragement to subscribe, and excitement for future episodes. The episode concludes on a positive note, wishing everyone a fantastic, wonderful, and magnificent week ahead.

Don’t miss an episode—subscribe to our podcast on your favorite platform. Find more at rollinwiththedolans.com or search #rollinwiththedolans on social media to join the conversation.

Transcript

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Welcome to Rolling with the Dolans. I'm Patrick Dolan. And I'm Tameka Dolan. Our podcast focuses on the joys and challenges of blending families, our interracial marriage, parents and children of multiple ages, and the journey of entrepreneurship. We share our daily experiences with a positive but real perspective. Today's topic is our reluctant adoption of social media for our businesses. So let's first get a look. So let's first start a little bit about the evolution of our adoption of social media. So to make it, what did you first start doing and when for social media, just in general? I would say the biggest platform for me was Facebook. What did you do on Facebook? Back then it was just like. You know, posting about my journey to parenting and what was going on in my immediate family. I feel like I was the most productive once I was a mom and then traveling a lot. I was away from my family and friends, so it was a good way to stay connected to everybody, I guess. Did you ever use MySpace? Yes. I was not good at my space and I felt like you had to have some type of like Music or some type of art. Why did you yeah, I created one, but I don't ever remember What I did with it. So yeah, but it is very music oriented now. It's surprising. It actually still does exist today Yeah, it's really just for People who are in the music industry now. Oh, I had no idea. I never wanted to use Facebook much. I often found it annoying. I thought that people posted too much. It seemed people were using it more for bragging. So it really turned me off. You still don't even use Facebook. Yeah, I still use it about once a year. I did use LinkedIn, which, a lot of people don't consider that social media, but it absolutely is but much more for business connections. So Facebook, no, I'm not a big fan. When did you get into Instagram? Once I went back to the salon Instagram was was my biggest source. How and why do we have a TikTok account? Hmm. You want my version or your version? Let's start with yours. So my version is, it was during COVID and the kids were posting all the time and doing videos. And we said that we were going to do it, but the kids said that we are too old to do it and we should not do it. So I took that as a challenge and was like, okay, just because you think we're too old, we're going to do it. So we did two videos. Actually three, right? And then the third one got like thousands and thousands of views. And I didn't even notice like the first 10, 000 views that it got. And then Nadia, one of our older kids was like, mom, this is exactly why you don't need TikTok because you don't even watch it. You didn't even know like so many people were viewing it. And I was like, oh, Is that your view? Yeah, pretty much and then our first one was actually at our honeymoon our first post Yeah, and then I think it was our third one that ended up having a couple hundred thousand views. Oh, what's it? Is it that many? Oh, okay. See I still don't even know So that's where we got into tick tock and We're still just more or less using that as as something just to play around with something that's that's fun And you know, I'm definitely not the best dancer. I like more of the ones that are just more of a challenge and, and the one that we were referencing, you have to check out is Tomiko trying to do a sit up with me holding her in the air. Yeah. You, I like to do the dance ones. You like to do the ones that are, you say challenging, but I feel like they're unsafe. And that did get tagged as unsafe, but nonetheless I think the unsafe ones are me trying to carry you around and do stuff like that but, I've yet to drop her. But she did do a crazy flip once which, she ended up hurting her neck for a couple of days. Yeah, that's why I said unsafe. But also, like, it's a good conversation piece when I'm in a salon because people think it's so funny and Actually, most people think that I'm the one that's always initiating the TikTok. So when I tell them that Mr. Dolan is the one that does, they're like really surprised. And then who's the one who always seems to want to create more content now? That would be Mr. Dolan. And then the kids are like, oh jeez, you're recording this? Wait, so speaking of the kids, What is your view on if, should we make the kids be on our social media page or should we respect their boundaries? I've definitely respected their boundaries. I know at least one is, really trying to stay out of it. And anytime I'm recording, he tries to make sure he is not in that video. So I do try to respect that. A lot of times they know depending on where I'm putting it, They might not get a lot of views or people they know But because the thing is with with tick tock seems like a lot of their friends now follow us Yeah, they say it's annoying. Yeah, and I think they like it in some capacity But then they feel like it's annoying in others. So well, I think it depends on the kids. So like I forgot to tell you this when we were in vegas He's leaving out of the elevator going back to the room. Our 16 year old said that his friends, like, watch us and he doesn't care when they say to him, Oh, I saw your parents on TikTok. Well, our 14 year old daughter was like, it's so annoying when my friends say that. And he's like, why are you annoyed? Like, it's funny. So it's just, it just depends on the kid. I feel like she was just being a hater, but whatever. One of the things that, I, I really found it to be a challenge is to accept that these YouTubers and Tik Tokers and things like that are actually celebrities. Do you remember what I used to say when you'd turn on Dancing with the Stars? Yeah. You're like, why are they on Dancing with the Stars? It's like, they're not even. Like they don't they don't do sports. They're not an actress and I'm like, yeah but because of their social media like they have like tons of followers and they're considered a celebrity now and Me being the the old dog not wanting to learn new tricks I was reluctant to recognize that but one of the times that I went out with The kids they started identifying some people that they knew as youtubers And that was over a year ago and that's when I kind of just threw my arms up and I'm like, okay, I'm gonna stop resisting and just recognize that, that this is the future, the future stars a lot of times will be coming from social media. Let's move on to the next part of this podcast. And let's focus on the benefits of social media for business. So why would we even entertain using it for our business? And why now? You know, what are our goals? Do you want me to speak first since I use it the most for my business? Yeah. So I use it for my salon. And it really does feel like a job, but. It's like if you aren't using it, I feel like you're just going to be behind the curve with everybody. Now what I've done too is like integrated my personal life a little bit with my hair stuff. And I'm finding that, most clients love that. So they feel like they kind of already know me. And when they come in and feel comfortable, plus they've seen my work. So I just feel like you just kind of have to do it. But it is, honestly, like another job and trying to learn the algorithm, trying to post on your story, trying to do all the stuff, but. So you're saying that sometimes you will have a new customer that, that just feels familiar just because they've already seen some of your videos? Absolutely. Absolutely. Okay. So that goes along with, with one of the, the facts that I researched a little bit ahead of time. It says 75 percent of people use social media for purchasing advice. So it seems that might be a case where they're going to see something that you did, go in there and, and, if it didn't help them make the decision, it at least helped them feel like they knew you before they actually met you. That's consistent with some of the things I've seen out there. Just to add a little bit of my perspective is, is I've been in the hosting and domain business for years and, One of the things I've always known is how important it is to have a domain, your brand, your website, social media, all your search engine optimization, and things like that. And all of these things work together to build your digital identity. And more and more, social media is Is becoming an important part So if you focus all your time and effort and energy on your brand and your website you're really missing out if you don't have that other component. It's a package and you're really missing a big part of that package if you ignore it entirely. It really helps your build your identity and your business. so let me clarify. So domain, brand, website. Social media, search engine optimization, and content creation all have to go in one. Yep, they all work together. So even though they might be a whole bunch of different things all over the place. They all work together. So people are looking for you on Google if they Google things Google will Give you more importance if all those things are active and and out there If you just create a website throw it out there and hope that people will come to it. Good luck. So it really Yeah, it's really more than that. It's really trying to create your entire package and social media is getting more and more relevant in creating that digital identity. So, what percentage would you say, if you ranked all of them, how high is social media engagement? What percentage would you say is, like, out of that package that I just described, would you say that that would be, like, 60 percent of it? I think that if, I think it could easily be 50, 60%, because if you just build a website, you're not going to get people to come to it. you really need to work on the search engine optimization. And then you might drive traffic to it, but that, by By itself is going to take a lot of work and a lot of effort and then you get into the content and an easy way to create the content is to do it through social media and so you get all of these different things working together and it becomes, the whole package and I think that social media is becoming more and more important to show that you actually exist show that you're active and show that you're contributing to your business and growing it yeah, so just to wrap that part up. I know that you love your stats. And so You wrote over 70 percent of the u. s. Population Actively uses social media. That is crazy. Yeah, and then the numbers are 5 billion people, Worldwide use social media and that's more than half of the world's population so it's just a massive audience and Now, why do you think? We should be using it, besides just, you know, reaching that audience. Well, basically, you either get on the ship and ride or just fall off and drown. Isn't there like a, Is there like a saying or a slogan that's like, oh, never mind, that was bad, either Get on the pot and never mind. Okay, but yeah, so basically You have to do it. The other thing is is that we've talked about is trying to be more engaged and interact it's you know gives people a platform where they can actually respond to and interact with and The other thing is is telling our story It's an easier way to tell our story and give you a lot of people some perspective of what's going on. I agree What is your favorite social media platform? I would say Instagram. And why? Well, it's probably, well, it's the one that I use when I post about my business. But, I don't know, they're all different. So Instagram, I use it for my business. For TikTok, I use it if I want to have a good laugh or some good inspiration. YouTube, I tend to go on there if I'm looking for like a how to, looking for like a good, like I was on there last night trying to find like a recipe for good homemade biscuits because I'm old now. What about you? When I think of TikTok, I just think of, oh, let's have fun today and do a TikTok. And YouTube, I think of as the biggest potential out there to reach an audience. I think, given it's, Owned by Google, and it's been such a known platform for such a long time, and it's definitely not going away. TikTok, they threatened to have it go away, which I don't really think is going to happen. But YouTube's going to be there and it's going to continue to grow. I'm not as big on Facebook and Instagram as you are, so it's still new to me. And So that's it. I mean, I think that if I had to recommend one out there, one, one thing, if you One social media platform, I know, I know what you're going to say. YouTube. Right? Yep, that is correct. If so, if, if somebody's like, I don't really like social media, I don't really want to get involved, but I'm willing to do one, which one would I pick? It would definitely be YouTube. What would you suggest? Instagram? It depends, I mean, what the business is. I feel like Instagram, but I do agree with you that YouTube is not going anywhere and it's just going to get bigger and bigger. So, like, I know a lot of people are doing, like, YouTube Shorts. We probably need to be more engaged on YouTube So the recap and the key points and the encouragement is social media is not going away. So you can embrace it, ignore it, or something in between, but there is a massive capital M, massive audience that you may be missing out on if you ignore it. And then the other thing is just pick a platform. Find something you feels right for you, pick that platform and just start working on it, get something out there. You might not want to mix business and personal accounts. So if you already are using Facebook, I wouldn't say, okay, go create something for your business and post it, try to create something new. And just figure out which platform that you want to work on and get it out there and start posting as soon as possible. Yep, that's it. Alright, I'm going to wrap it up. Absolutely. Thanks for listening today. We hope you enjoyed this podcast. Please subscribe and make sure you continue to look for the next edition. Until next time, have an absolutely wonderful week. An amazing week. A super fantastic week. A magnificent week. Okay, bye. Bye.